Everybody understands the importance of studying and using traffic rules to be safe on the roads. However, millions of people all over the world have car accidents and get injured. The number of such cases increases from year to year. We could not keep aside of this problem and decided to find the ways of making our traffic conditions better and save more lives on the roads.
The ideas
Car crashes are a big problem all over the world. Each year about 1.25 million people die due to a car accident and there are 3.287 deaths per day. We also spend about 5 months of our life in traffic jams. The reasons of such situations are quite different.
We live in the capital of Russia. Moscow is a very busy city with lots of roads and highways. Our traffic system is very far from being called ideal, and people have to spend many hours in cars. According to the latest information, every year people spend 91 hours in traffic jams in Moscow. Drivers become nervous, aggressive and even sleepy, and it makes them break the traffic rules. It affects the accidents on the roads with vehicles and pedestrians.
Our research took many aspects. We paid much attention at the causes of traffic jams and car accidents, studied the necessity of putting traffic signs and road markings. We observed the work of traffic lights and the rules for crossing the street without them for children, pedestrians and blind people. We remembered the main rules for crossing the street, when we get out of the public transportation, the vehicle and road surface conditions.
We studied the main causes of traffic jams and car accidents and found out that distraction while driving, inexperienced or drunk drivers, weather changes, road surface conditions, and lack of light in the dark time are the main reasons of car crashes.
We understood that we could not take only one direction of the topic, that is why our research gathered many focuses. We analyzed the information and made a decision that some new views of the problem could change positively the situation on the roads.
The initiatives
We started working on the project with planning. We were glad to have the opportunity of representing our school and involved the whole school and parents in participating in this project.
There were three main directions that we based our work on:
- the prevention of traffic jams and car accidents
- the safety on the roads for pedestrians, children and blind people
- the new ideas of making our road system better and saving more lives.
Firstly, we organized several classes for the elementary school, where we introduced the rules for crossing the road, the meaning of road signs, and the rules for moving in cars and public transportation for children under 10 years old. We made some posters and drew pictures, devoted to the topic. We created an exhibition and commented the paintings during the breaks.
Secondly, we practiced revising the traffic rules while playing the game “Snakes and Ladders” and worked with quizzes on computers.
Considering the results of our research on the main causes of traffic jams and car accidents, we designed some models and made posters, which showed, how we could change the road situation in the future.
The ideas were the following:
1) A driver in the traffic jam sees only the vehicle in front of him or her. This means that when the first car stops, all others start to stop one by one. This continues till the first car begins to move again. There is no synchronization and this causes delays. The human factor is another cause of traffic jams. All people have different driving experience. Dangerous driving and not following traffic rules also cause accidents and blocked roads. We need to use technologies of the future. Even today we have cars that can travel around the city without drivers. Such cars have cameras and detectors that give information to the computer, which controls the car engine and brakes. The cameras read the white lines of the roads, so the car stays in its row and the satellite navigator tells the computer where to turn the car. If all cars on the road were able to communicate with one another, they would stop and start moving together. It would allow cars to travel faster. There would be no need in traffic lights. In the future all cars will be connected with a central computer that will tell each one when to start driving and when to stop.
2) We also offer the idea of enlarging the amount of roads and build them in levels as it is in the underground parking. To move from level to level there will be a sort of circular staircase, but much bigger. The massive columns will hold the levels of the construction.
3) We can paint the buildings, which are close to the highways and the road surface with special fluorescent paints to give more light at night. It will help drivers to see the way better.
We wrote a song about children’s safety on the roads and created a short Lego cartoon that attracts people’s attention to the problems of blind people on the roads.
Finally, we wrote a letter to our local traffic police station and achieved the permission to get the zebra crossing on the road next to our school.
In reply, all the people, who were involved in the the project, supported and helped us a lot.
We understand the value of this project for us and appreciate the chance of taking part in such important and reasonable project.
